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Driving growth and diversification

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Investcorp: Best Seeding Platform – Amidst various economic and geopolitical uncertainties, Investcorp has made significant progress executing its growth and diversification strategy. In the last year, the global alternative asset manager entered new geographies, strengthened its presence in adjacent asset classes, expanded its institutional client base and launched new lines of businesses. This was executed while embracing a culture of best practices supported by a strong alignment of interests that includes sharing in the risks and rewards with the firm’s clients, a long hallmark of Investcorp’s success.

The firm grew both AUM and profitability with AUM reaching a record $28.2 billion, which has more than doubled over the last four years as Investcorp targets achieving $50 billion AUM over the medium-term. Introduced in 2015, the firm’s growth and diversification strategy was driven in part to meet growing client demand across its lines of business as well as new geographies and this expansion has translated into numerous benefits for clients, according to Investcorp.

Lionel Erdely (pictured), Head and Chief Investment Officer of Absolute Return Investments for Investcorp, comments: “With our deep range of business lines and global scale, we can bring clients ideas and solutions that best address their risk and return profiles. Importantly, as we continue to grow, we are also building upon our legacy as a principled investor, deploying our own capital off our balance sheet and sharing in the risks and rewards of our investments with our clients, which underscores our strong conviction in the investments we make. Our uniquely global position continues to serve the interest of our shareholders and clients alike.”

Investcorp made its debut investment in China and in India this year with a Chinese technology company focused partnership with China Everbright and through the acquisition of the real estate and private equity businesses from IDFC. 

The firm also moved into new lines of business, such as private banking and direct lending, through the acquisition of a strategic minority stake in Banque Pâris Bertrand. Investcorp also launched its first GCC infrastructure fund through a joint venture with Aberdeen Standard Investments.

Another new business area Investcorp began developing this year is strategic capital, which focuses on acquiring minority equity stakes in the GPs of other mid-sized alternative asset managers, including private equity, private debt, real estate, venture capital and hedge fund managers.

Further, the firm continued to make strong progress on the hedge funds platform it established in 2004 and two of its strategic relationships achieved significant milestones this year. 

“Nut Tree Capital, one of the alternative managers on our hedge funds platform has reached $1.5 billion of AUM. In addition, Shoals Capital Management saw the quickest ramp-up to more than $350 million of capital since the inception of our hedge fund platform,” remarks Erdely. “ Our hedge fund platform has all stages of a manager’s lifecycle encompassing the seed stage, emerging and more mature managers.” 

Investcorp prioritises its clients’ interests through an understanding of their investment objectives, implementing those objectives with transparency and the appropriate risk tolerance levels. “At Investcorp, we are also principal investors and have put our own capital behind our convictions for nearly 40 years. This ensures a strong alignment of interests as we share in the investments’ risks and rewards with our clients.” Erdely concludes. 


Lionel Erdely

Head & Chief Investment Officer of Absolute Return Investments, Investcorp

Lionel Erdely is responsible for overseeing Investcorp’s diverse offerings in Hedge Fund Partnerships, Special Opportunity Portfolios, GP Stakes and Multi-manager Solutions. Under his leadership, the ARI platform has broadened its institutional investor base globally including large public pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, endowments and foundations and family offices. Prior to joining Investcorp in 2013, Erdely worked for 11 years at Lyxor Asset Management, where he held the dual position of CIO (2004 – 2013) and CEO of Lyxor Inc. (2009 – 2013).

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